BX Advanced (No Art)

The BX Advanced Gold Edition rules are based on the 1978 advanced first edition edition of the world’s most popular fantasy roleplaying game with the less complex game systems of the 1981 B/X edition. In other words, this is a modern version of the fantasy roleplaying game many people played in the 1980s. They started playing with the B/X edition and just added the races, classes, spells, monsters and treasures from the first Advanced edition, instead of using all the more complex rules from the Advanced Edition. All of the first advanced edition fun without all the often complex and fiddly rules.

In BX Advanced, you may play a first edition style assassin, barbarian, bard, cleric, druid, fighter, illusionist, magic-User, monk, paladin, ranger, or thief in an old school game of exploration, treasure-finding, and fast to play combat. While B/X systems are used instead of the more complex first advanced edition rules, many of the limits of B/X have been removed: there are 20+ levels instead of 14; race is separate from class, spells go to 9th level instead of 6th, and there are many more monsters and treasure items than in B/X. Be a hero or a rogue: your decisions determine whether your character will retire rich, rule a kingdom, or die before his time.

This modern version also includes many optional rules: psionics, some of the house rules the author used in the 1970s, and selected ideas from other roleplaying games. While a sample adventure and campaign setting are included, these rules can easily be used with all of the old adventures designed for B/X or 1e and the many new adventures published for these games in the last few years – or you can easily create adventures of your own.

Note: This is the "Pay What You Want" version. It has all the text of the game. However, it has no art except for the cover art and the sample dungeon map and two wildnerness maps in appendixes A and B -- just lots of blank space where there is art in the paid version. The paid version includes the missing art (and the 20 pages of maps missing from Appendix F) and is only $9.95. While you are welcome to download and enjoy this "No Art" version for free, a few dollars would always be appreciated.

I think you see a pattern here with my issues. To minimize the amount of layout changes I recommend instead of adding another table for races just including them as a footnote for the table, eg.: "Race: 1-4 human, 5 dwarf, etc.. etc.. reroll if class not available for the race." For strongholds you can even leave gnomes and halfling out, they aren't really fortress building races.

You are just ten feet away from perfection! Go for it! :)

Randall SMarch 29, 2018 12:56 pm UTC

PUBLISHER

As next week appears to be free of doctor visits for my wife, I hope to get another update of BX Advanced out with these and other corrections included. Thank you very much for finding them and letting me know about them.

Tamás IMarch 29, 2018 1:39 pm UTC

PURCHASER

You're welcome. Keep up the good work!

Tamás IMarch 21, 2018 12:12 pm UTC

PURCHASER

Some more nitpicking. Page 16, under dwarves:

"In addition to these abilities, dwarves are particularly hardy people, and have a strong resistance to magic, as reflected in their saving throws. "

After their saving throws:

"Dwarves are hardy beings, resistant to magic and poison, and as such they receive bonuses to defend against these effects. In addition, their small size grants them a bonus to finding cover and avoiding breath attacks."

One of these is redundant. The same happens in the Gnome section.

Same page, after the level limit charts:

"*Note that dwarf fighters receive the benefit of faster fighter level progression when compared to dwarf-as-class progression, but they can only achieve level 9 as fighters."

This is again redundant, because dwarf-as-class is not in the BX Advanced rulebook.

Again, I'd like to thank everyone who has pointed out typos. Each one found moves us closer to a print version release.

Patrick LFebruary 12, 2018 7:07 pm UTC

PURCHASER

Also, the multiclassing rules mention "dwarf" and "elf" as classes

Patrick LFebruary 10, 2018 1:56 am UTC

PURCHASER

The assassin description says that the base assassination fee is listed in the assassination fee table, but the table doesn't seem to be there.

Randall SFebruary 10, 2018 2:01 am UTC

PUBLISHER

Thank you! Added to the "fix list" for the second update.

Patrick LFebruary 10, 2018 3:22 am UTC

PURCHASER

Awesome! If this goes to print, you've got my money, that's for sure.

Randall SFebruary 10, 2018 2:48 pm UTC

PUBLISHER

Answering at night is a bad idea as I'm a morning person. The table isn't really missing. The reference to it was supposed to be replaced by a simple formula for calculating the price for assassination -- which is missing. Here's the gist of it: Take the level of the target plus one. Multiply that by 50gp. Then multiply the result by the level of assassin you are hiring. The result is the standard fee. If the target is extra powerful or very important, the fee will likely be increased by 150% to 250%. Bargaining might adjust this -- or it might just annoy the assassin.

February 06, 2018 2:19 am UTC

PURCHASER

This needs an editors pass, as Labyrinth Lord is mentioned several times throughout the text. It would be fine if the game was marketed as the two Labyrinth Lord books combined with some additions, but it is not.

Randall SFebruary 06, 2018 11:33 am UTC

PUBLISHER

A new version will be uploaded later this week with proofreading misses that have been found corrected. As for describing it as you believe it should be, the OGL specifically prohibits doing so. However, that is how the project was described on my blog when I proposed it. This edition was never supposed to exist -- only what is now called being the Admantine edition was proposed (with mutations, technology, more classes, more monsters, more treasure, more spells, etc). This closer to standard 1e edition was only published because people specifically asked if I could produce an edition without all the extra stuff.

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